Supports: ; Venue:
By: Nina Mende
Today Leningrad Cowboys played at the Bike and Music Weekend in Geiselwind/Germany.
| The Leningrad Cowboys is a Finnish rock band famous for its humorous songs, ludicrous hairstyles and concerts featuring the Russian military band Alexandrov ensemble. The band was an invention of the Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki, contributing music in his short films “Rocky VI” (1986), “Thru the Wire” (1987) and appearing as a fictional band in the short film “L.A. Woman” (1988) and in the feature film “Leningrad Cowboys Go America” (1989). The fictional band, however, was made up of Sakke Järvenpää and Mato Valtonen, members of a real Finnish band the Sleepy Sleepers with some additional musicians. In the film, they are joined by Nicky Tesco, founding member of the UK punk rock band, The Members. After the film, the band took on a life of its own, recording music, making videos and giving concerts. The band appeared in two other Aki Kaurismäki films, the “Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses” (1994) and the “Total Balalaika Show” (1994), which is a film of a concert performed by the band and the full 160-member Alexandrov ensemble in Helsinki, Finland in June 1993. Kaurismäki also wrote and directed two videos featuring the band: their cover of the 60’s folk standard “Those Were The Days” (1992) and “Thru The Wire” (also featuring Tesco) (1992). In 1994, the band appeared together with 70 members of the Alexandrov ensemble at the 11th annual MTV Music Awards, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, where they sang the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic “Sweet Home Alabama”. The show was seen by an estimated 250 million people worldwide. That same year, the band and ensemble again joined forces for the “Nokia Balalaika Show”, a concert held in Berlin. In 1998 they featured in the film “L.A. Without a Map”. Currently, the band has 11 Cowboys and two Leningrad Ladies. The songs, all somewhat influenced by polka and progressive rock, are performed in English and have themes such as vodka, tractors, rockets, and Genghis Khan, as well as folkloric Russian songs, rock and roll ballads and covers from bands as diverse as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, all presented with lots of humor. |
The stage was set up with a tractor in which you could find the drum set as well as a platform for the brass players. The stage reminded a little bit of the stage at House Of Blues in Hollywood or Virgin Oil in Helsinki. The audience room was a huge venue with balconies and several bars throughout the venue as well as several staircases. It seemed very empty in the beginning but as soon as the band entered the stage, the audience room was terribly crowded with bikers, rockers and Leningrad Cowboy fans. The band came on stage with they typical style: The huge hair, the funny looking shoes, the shades and the uniforms. The two dancers changed their outfits about three times throughout the show: Classic costumes, sexy shorts and a skeleton overall. Leningrad Cowboys rocked around onstage, never standing still but always looking cool. The drummer in the tractor sometimes reminded a little bit of a caveman or a picture-book farmer living in the Southern states. The band covered awesome hits and everybody could sing along. The audience danced and sang along to the great music. Since it was all hits everybody knew the lyrics. The cheering was immense and the performance was breathtaking. There was a whole lot going on onstage, you didn’t know where to look first. There was no time to be bored at any point. Leningrad Cowboys put up an amazing performance. The big singer of the band came on stage in an Elvis costume and even in a lobster costume for some songs. The show lasted about two hours. A must see for everybody. So go check them out whenever you get the chance.
Links:
Leningrad Cowboys Official
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